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Small Homelands, Large Dreams

I recently traveled to the UN Regional Seminar for the Committee of 24, where we discussed the topic of decolonization and each of the remaining 17 colonies in the world. Even though I have only been to one other seminar, I was told that this one was more lively and productive than usual. Part of it may because the chairperson this year set the right tone at times. At the start of the seminar he gave a speech in which he outlined the tasks we hope to accomplish and gave us some words of encouragement. He quoted part of the poem “Retorno” by Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario. The words have stuck with me the entire time I’ve been here.

“Si pequeña es la Patria, unu grande la sueña”

This translates to, “If the homeland is small, one dreams it large.”

This is an important reminder for the Non-Self-Governing Territories or colonies of today, such as Guam, as many of them are small islands, with small populations who by the way most people (including those in those islands) tend to see the world today, are far too small and too faraway to ever become independent or achieve decolonization. As colonies we are bred to see ourselves as the stuck, dependent, lower end of every binary and regardless of what we have to offer the world, see ourselves as being “ti nahong” yan “dikike’ dimasiao.” Not enough and too small. We have been told these things for so long and even begun to teach ourselves these limiting lessons, that we forget that they are not reality, they are not intrinsically true.

To see yourself as incapable of surviving because you are a small island is to see yourself through the eyes of another. To see your future and your possibility as dictated by the prejudices or interests of another. In terms of sustainability for islands like us, what matters are your dreams. Can you see the future as open and ripe with possibility? Or do you see it as a wasteland that is just waiting to be filled with your failures?

Independence is not a dream in which you get everything that you want. It is not akin to those dreams where all things you desire fall into place before you or appear in your hands the moment you need them. But in one way, independence is meant to be an awakening. A rising up from a colonial slumber. From the comfort of having the world colored by another and determined by another. But the awakening gives one the chance to dream again.